Brenda Russell

Brenda Russell

Dr. Brenda Russell is Professor Emerita of Physiology and Biophysics, and formerly Professor of Bioengineering and Medicine at the University of Illinois at Chicago. She has ongoing NIH funding and an active research group of six people. Dr. Russell (formerly Brenda Russell Eisenberg) received her Ph.D. in Physiology, 1971 under the direction of Professor Sir Andrew Huxley (Nobel Laureate), at the University of London, England. She has done research into muscle adaptation at Duke, UCLA, Rush University and UIC. and has served on Study Sections for NIH and the American Heart Association. She was the recipient of the 2010 Illinois Biotechnology Institute iCON Innovation Award, considered by many to be the region's most prestigious honor for life sciences educators and researchers. Dr. Russell is former editor of The American Journal of Physiology: Cell Section; Cell & Tissue Research and editorial board member of many journals, including Circulation Research and The Journal of Applied Physiology. She has written reviews, book chapters and well over 100 publications in peer-reviewed journals. Some of her material is now incorporated into textbooks - including the widely used Gray's Anatomy and Berne and Levy's Physiology.

Scientific Background: Dr. Russell's scientific training, background, experience, and productivity encompass a range of disciplines and forge linkages in the continuum between quantitative biology, bioengineering and physiology. Her current NIH support funds two collaborative projects, one on heart failure for regulation of protein synthesis and remodeling of cell shape, and the other for tissue engineering with development of a novel cell culture system using bioengineering and surface chemistry modification. Many of her studies have been done in close collaboration with clinicians (heart failure, muscular dystrophies, urinary incontinence).

Administration: Dr. Russell served as Director of the Graduate Division of Cell Biology at Rush (1977-1988). At UIC she was Associate Dean of the Graduate College (1994-1997), Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs (1997-1999) and Executive Associate Vice Chancellor for Research (1999 to 2011). She was the UIC Research Integrity Officer from 1996 to 2011. She currently serves as President of the UIC chapter for the State University Annuitant Association (SUAA).

Interdisciplinary collaboration: Major research often requires collaboration and interdisciplinary resources. Dr. Russell has chaired several cross-disciplinary task forces at UIC including regenerative medicine with stem cells (clinical, basic biomedical and bioengineering), environmental science and policy (public health, political science, pollution and geology), tobacco-related research (prevention psychology, basic biomedical, cancer, clinical treatment), bioinformatics (computer science, genomics, health informatics, biotech entrepreneurs), and structural biology (proteomics, crystallography, molecular biology). She was the founding Scientific Director of the Chicago Biomedical Consortium fostering interactions with the University of Chicago, Northwestern University to enable and encourage interdisciplinary research that is beyond the range of a single institution and thereby to promote educational, health and commercial developments that will benefit the Chicago community at large.

Business: Dr. Brenda Russell and Dr. Tejal Desai (UCSF) founded Cell Habitats, Inc an early-stage biomedical device company developing an easy-to-administer, microdevice that allows the natural repair and regeneration of damaged tissue. Its first application will be to restore normal cardiac function after a heart attack. They have one patent on file and two patents pending.

Dr. Russell is married to Dr. Jack Cooksey and has four children, Ben (1969), Emily (1973), Jill (1974) and Sally (1979); two step children Gregory (1978) and Jessica (1979); and five grandchildren.